25 Health Benefits of Mochi #1 Top Japanese Healthy Snack

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Mochi is one of Japanese traditional cake made from flour. It has a sweet taste and chewy texture. Traditionally, it has peanut as its filling, but nowadays the filling of mochi become variate such as chocolate, strawberry, peanut butter or even you can find mochi with ice cream as its topping. Until now, you can find mochi everywhere in Japan.

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Now, we will talk about health benefits of mochi. Just like ramen, mochi become a healthy food because of the main ingredients. For making mochi, we need sticky rice flour, corn flour, sugar, rice flour, and salt. Those materials are good for our body and have a lot of health benefits. Do you want to know the health benefits of main ingredients of mochi? Let’s find out!

Just like we already mentioned before, what makes mochi healthy is its main ingredients. Here are main ingredients of mochi and the health benefits of mochi Japan.

Sticky Rice Flour Benefits

For us who live at Asia or continents that have rice as their main dish, we are familiar with sticky rice only with different name for each country. For those who doesn’t familiar, just imagine rice that sticky to each other. How do we consume it? We can just consume it or we can transform it into flour.

Sticky rice flour is one of main ingredients of making mochi. Usually, sticky rice used to make dishes with chewy texture. Because it contains starch, usually dishes that made from sticky rice flour will satiate us more so it can replace rice.

Does it have health benefits? Yes. Sticky rice contains a lot of good things for our body that can prevent us from suffering illness and disease, such as potassium, magnesium, selenium, manganese, etc. One of its health benefits is it can help us fight free radical.

3. Corn Flour Health Benefits

Corn flour is a flour that made from flour essence. Usually it used to baking so that the cake or the biscuit will have a perfect texture. Another used of corn flour is to make the sauce or the dressing thicker. Maybe not a lot of us know that actually corn flour has health benefits for our body. Let’s find out!

Corn contains high level fiber that needed for our body. One of which responsibility is to help our digestive system. Fiber will help our digestive system so it can work properly.

2. Prevent Anemia

Anemia is a condition when our blood pressure drop because of a lot of factor, one of which is exhausted body. Vitamin B and folate acid that contains inside corn will help us to boost our blood pressure.

Corn contains iron that has responsibility on help our organs to work properly. One of which is to makes our bones stronger. Bones’ strength will affect our activities. If our bones are weak, then we can’t work properly. But, if our bones strong, then we can do our daily activity.

Sugar Health Benefits

Sugar is one of seasonings that we already common with. Usually we use it to drink tea or coffee. Although we already common with sugar and its kind, but not a lot of us know its health benefits for our body. Do you want know what is sugar’s health benefits for our body? Let’s find out! Also read: Sugarcane Juice Benefits

1. Boost Energy Instantly

We already know that sugar contains glucose that has responsibility on boost our energy. Not only energy for our movement tools, such as bones, muscles, and joints, but also energy for our brain. So, there’s a reason why people drink sweet coffee or tea in the morning.

2. Boost Blood Pressure

Beside boost our energy, sugar also has another responsibility, that is boost our blood pressure. So, if you are suffer low blood pressure, your body will be weaker. That is a really dangerous condition, especially if we are still outside our home. If suddenly you feel weak, consume something contains sugar as soon as possible.

3. Decrease Depression

There is statement said that chocolate and ice cream will decrease stress. There is a reason that support the statement because chocolate and ice cream contains sugar in it. Just like we already know, sugar is one of energy source that needed for our body. And if our energy already fueled, it will affect our mood too.
Also read: Symptoms of Depression

4. Increase Brain’s Work

Just like we already know that sugar can boost our energy. Brain also need energy to work properly. Without glucose, our brain can’t work properly and we can’t do our activities. So, that’s why we need glucose for our healthiness.

Rice Flour Benefits

Rice flour is a flour that made from rice. How to make rice flour? Pound the rice until it become a flour. Usually, we used rice flour to baking because there are some people that can’t take wheat flour. Rice flour contains materials that is as same as real rice, such as:

Carbohydrate as one of energy source for our body.

Iron as the one which help red blood cells keep oxygen in it and prevent from anemia.

Calcium as the one which makes the bones stronger and prevent from osteoporosis

Protein as the one which regenerate dry skin cells and replace it with the new one.

Salt Benefits

Just like sugar, we already common with this seasoning. Usually, we will use it as seasoning in our food to make its taste more balance. In mochi making, we also need salt to make its taste a little bit savory. But, do you know what is health benefits of salt? Let’s find out!

Help Digestive System – Salt will help increase saliva inside our mouth. Salt will also stimulate chloride and protein that can help our gut to work properly.

Anti-Inflammatory – Basically, our body need 1,5 teaspoon of salt everyday. If we don’t fulfill it, than there will be some unbalance situation in our body. And our body is lack of salt, renin enzyme and aldosterone hormone inside our body will increase rapidly. If those hormone increase and over their limits, it will cause destruction to blood circulation and increase inflammation inside our body.

Help You Sleep Better – Some of people suffer from lack of speed because a lot of factors, one of which is stress. Based on study, salt can decrease cortisol and adrenaline, hormones that can cause stress. So that’s why salt will help you sleep better.
Also read: Health Benefits of Deep Sleep – Sleeping Without a Pillow Benefits

Help Improve Bones’ Health – Bones contains lot of good minerals that can improve our bones’ healthiness. It will make our bones stronger and prevent us from osteoporosis. Also read: Prevent Osteoporosis Naturally with Exercise

Improve Skin’s Beauty and Healthiness – As we already know, salt contains lot of good materials that needed for our body. One of which is to keep our skin healthy and improve skin’s beauty. Salt contains chromium that can help us fight pimples and decrease skin infection. Also, salt contains sulfur that will keep our skin clean, smooth, solve dry skin, cure eczema and rash.
Also read: Health Benefits of Drinking Water For Skin and Overall Health

Cure Itchy Throat – Itchy throat is caused by a bacteria. As an anti-bacteria, salt also has responsibility on protect our body from bacteria and cure from every illness that cause by it. Also read: Health Benefits of Blackberry Leaves

Keep Blood Pressure – Consume just enough salt will help you keep your blood pressure at its normal level. But, it’s also not good for you if you consume too much salt.

Control Mineral and Electrolyte Concentrate – Another health benefits of salt is to control mineral and electrolyte concentrate inside our body. Why we need to control it? To decrease the stress level.

Prevent From Deathly Disease – As we already know, salt will help our blood to circulate better. If our blood doesn’t circulate properly, then the risk for our body being affect by deathly disease will be increase.

So, Japanese’s mochi is a traditional cake that is really good for our healthy because its ingredients contain lot of good materials for our body. Even we can add healthy food such us peanut and red bean as its filling. Peanut contains lot of good materials also such as calorie, fat, protein, carbohydrate, fiber, and saturated fat. As for red beans, it contains folat acid, calcium, carbohydrate, fiber, and high level protein.

Not only that. Traditional mochi use natural coloring to make it more pretty. And, as we know, natural coloring is the most healthier coloring that we can consume. Nowadays, maybe they use the chemical one. So, to make sure that mochi that you consume use natural coloring, you can visit traditional market at Japan or you can make it by yourself. But it’s pretty difficult, though.

But, you have to take a not that too much consuming sweet food will affect your health in a bad way. Although mochi contains lot of good materials for our body, but still consuming too much amount of it is not good for our health. In a small case, sweet foods will affect your teeth and you will be suffer from toothache. In a bigger case, it will increase the blood sugar level and increase the risk of affect from diabetes and another disease. So, stay healthy!